This blog will relate to my research of the Thirteenth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers of the Civil War. It will center around this and the building of my website dedicated to the regiment, 13thmass.org

Friday, January 29, 2010

Short Service

New recruits joined the 13th Mass in the field several times during their service. About 90 joined them in the field near Culpeper, Virginia on August 18th 1862 with another 40 or so joining the regiment September 10th outside Mechanicsville, Md. just before the battle of Antietam.* The adjutant Generals report credits all 123 of these recruits to the month of August, 1862. (None are listed for September). Regimental Historian Charles Davis wrote in the regimental history, September 10th: “We received anther lot of recruits to-day, and a fine looking set of men they were. It is a notable fact that this batch of recruits was the last in which we had any feeling of pride. Up to and including this time we had been fortunate in our recruits. They were a credit to the State and reflected honor upon the regiment; they were in such marked contrast to those who followed that the fact is worth mentioning.”

These new men came to the regiment just before several hard marches and deadly battles. Those that arrived August 18th near Culpeper arrived just in time to endure an arduous retreat with severe actions at Thoroughfare Gap, August 28th and 2nd Bull Run, August 30th. Those that arrived September 10th fought at Antietam, September 17th. Samuel Shelton Gould was one among the September group. Warren H. Freeman of Company A wrote that Gould was with the company only a few days before his death at Antietam. He writes, "Samuel S. Gould stood within five feet of me when he was mortally wounded; he had been in the company but four or five days. He was fresh from College, and I got quite well acquainted with him; he was a wide-awake, noble fellow, about as tall as I am. He has relatives in West Cambridge. ...We had forty-one men in our company, twenty-one of whom were killed or wounded. …After I had fired forty rounds I went to Gould and got some of his cartridges; he was living, but not able to speak; he died before the battle was over. During most of the day we were between 300 and 400 yards of the rebel lines – a good easy range for our rifles.”

Gould’s story is exceptional; I outlined it in a previous post. He was a Harvard student, who took to sea to see the world inbetween studies. The following information is followed closely from “Harvard Memorial Biographies,” edited by Thomas W. Higginson; 1866.

His father was headmaster of the Winthrop School, Boston, when Samuel Shelton Gould was born January 1, 1843. Samuel attended Boston schools until his twelfth year, studying Latin for two of them. When his parents moved to Dorchester he completed his preparatory studies at the Roxbury Latin School. In 1858 at age 15 he entered Harvard College. After a year he decided to leave school to see the world. He went to sea as a common sailor on the ship ‘Peabody’ bound for Melbourne, Australia. He brought along several Latin and Greek text-books and remarkably kept up his studies during his spare time. His plan was to “re-enter College on his return with as little delay as possible.” Samuel kept up a daily journal where he recorded his surprise at the mean tasks, drudge-work and poor food aboard the Peabody. There was little opportunity to learn more of the “difficult parts of the work,” one of his personal goals. The grumbling of the veteran sailors reinforced his idea that these were unusual conditions for a sailing ship. When at Melbourne he chose not to return to America on the Peabody and instead sailed a few days later for the Peruvian port of Callao, on the American vessel ‘Commonwealth.’

The work was harder on the Commonwealth, and the food worse, but the experience was better, because as an ordinary seaman young Samuel was now learning the more intricate parts of the job. There was less time for study on the Commonwealth but Gould kept at it.

At Callao the Captain revealed the true destination of the Commonwealth was up the coast to Chinca Island to harvest guano; seagull feces and urine, used as fertilizer. Naturally, this was repulsive work for sailors. Gould and another mate approached the Captain and requested a discharge from the vessel. The Captain refused. Words were exchanged and Gould demanded recourse with the American consul in Callao. The Captain struck him and the Second Mate beat him badly. Samuel jumped ship that night.

In a few days he joined the crew of a Boston ship, the ‘Rival,’ bound for Cork, Ireland. He got on well with the officers and had a pleasant experience, even with 20 days severe weather sailing ‘round Cape Horn. The rest of the voyage was pleasant and he continued his studies, and his journal:

Tuesday, June 26th. — Forenoon below; finished the first volume of Macaulay's England. I am glad to say that, in spite of the contrary predictions of my friends before I left home, I have not as yet neglected my reading and study, though my time has been much more limited than I expected, and consequently I have not accomplished nearly all that I could wish. Greek and Latin I have kept at with a constancy of which, under all the circumstances, — hard work and scarcity of rest, — I think I may be justly proud. I find that I have lost none of my ability to read them easily, but from the want of grammars I feel that my knowledge of them is not nearly as exact as it once was. The Holy Bible, — the reading of which has been a daily duty and pleasure to me, — John Foster, De Quincy, Macaulay, Shakespeare, Tennyson, and Dickens have formed my leisure reading, if that time which I have stolen from my sleep can be called leisure. I can fairly say that they have been my greatest pleasure ever since I left home. I hope that a year's time, and possibly less, will see me again so situated that the bulk of my time, and not the spare minutes only, may be given up to them. I have been like the mother in Tom Hood's ' Lost Child,' who did not know the love she felt for her child till she lost it. I only hope that I may not, like her, forget it as soon as I find it."

From Ireland Samuel sailed to New Orleans, and then made passage for home in a schooner. The ship nearly wrecked in a storm off Cape Hatteras in March, but Gould arrived safely home in April, 1861 after an absence of nearly 2 years. He followed up his desire to re-enter College and devoted the next three months catching up on the studies he had missed his sophomore year. He re-entered Harvard as a junior in July 1861!

Believing he had a part to play in the great struggle now underway he promised to enlist should the President again call for troops in the future. That opportunity came in the summer of 1862 and Samuel Gould joined the 13th Mass as a recruit. “During that time he attended and addressed several of the war-meetings in Cambridge and Boston and the fire of his words were inspiring.”

He joined the regiment in the field near Mechanicsburg, Md., September 10th. At Antietam, Samuel Gould was still unarmed but assisted the stretcher-bearers removing wounded men from the battlefield. In short order he found a rifle and “joined his company at the front, and very soon fell, shot through the heart.”

Samuel Gould’s story made me wonder how many others from this batch of new recruits were immediate casualties. Charles H. Bingham of Company 'C' was one of them. He joined the regiment in mid-August; was wounded at Antietam and received his discharge soon after. But he survived the ordeal and wrote several interesting articles about his short war time experiences. I counted 17 of these summer recruits who died between August and early January 1863. I wonder what their stories were. It would be difficult to discover something about some of these younger recruits, who served so briefly, with little time to form relationships with their comrades in arms. Who will tell the story when the boys in blue are gone? I offer the names of these unfortunate recruits who sacrificed everything for the cause of the Union. If anyone has information to share about any of these men please leave a comment.

Company A
William F. Barry; age 18; born Boston, clerk; KIA Sept. 17, 1862, Antietam.

Samuel S. Gould; age 19; Boston, student; KIA Sept. 17 1862, Antietam; Warren H. Freeman of Company A wrote to his father “Samuel S. Gould stood within five feet of me when he was mortally wounded; he had been in the company but four or five days. He was fresh from Harvard College, and I got quite well acquainted with him; he was a wide-awake, noble fellow, about as tall as I am. He has relatives in West Cambridge. We had forty-one men in our company, twenty-one of whom were killed or wounded. My rifle was so hot that I could hardly touch the barrel with my hand, but it worked well; that was the reason I was able to fire so many rounds. Some of the boys only fired thirty times; their rifles got foul, and it took a long time to load. After I had fired forty rounds I went to Gould and got some of his cartridges; he was living, but not able to speak; he died before the battle was over. During most of the day we were between 300 and 400 yards of the rebel lines, - a good easy range for our rifles.”

*Names of men in from the Adjt. General’s report were checked against the revised roster of the regiment in the 13th Mass Association Circulars. I counted 123 recruits credited to Aug. 1862. Charles Bingham, one of the recruits wrote "Aug. 13th 1862 with one hundred or more "raw recruits," I left Camp Cameron, Boston..." John B. Noyes writes about 90 recruits joined the regt. Aug. 18. Then later says 60 came at Culpeper and 50 came at Mechanicsville. Sam Webster wrote about a hundred joined Aug. 18, then Sept. 9 "some recruits, left behind by the other lot, join us." Of the 123 I counted, (perhaps with some error) a split of 90 arriving Aug. 18 and 40 on Sept. 9 would be a good estimate.